Chapter 111
Chapter 111
A Delicious Prey
***
A thick blanket wrapped around my entire body. Within that warmth that felt like I could fall back asleep at any moment, I regained my senses. It felt as though I had wandered through deep consciousness for quite a long time, but in reality, only half a day had passed.
There was nothing different from usual.
No, one thing had changed. I was lying in the exact spot where Baek Seok-do had been lying. Recalling last night, Ga-on lightly scratched the back of his head and let out a hollow laugh.
His hair was still intact.
They must have performed the surgery after resecting part of the brain without shaving his head. There was no need to even question how skilled the surgeon had been.
A faint scar could be felt at the tips of his fingers, but that too had relied on the power of modern medicine. It would probably disappear before long.
That was when the young man with tightly tied dark blue hair, Alfredo, entered.
“You’re already awake.”
After checking the life support device, Alfredo reported the results.
“Your prognosis is remarkably good. Selecting the subject was definitely worthwhile.”
Now, the young man with the gentle appearance looked different.
Originally, androids could not inflict any harm upon humans whatsoever. The same applied indirectly as well. They were programmed thoroughly enough that no tricks could circumvent it before being shipped out.
And yet, the fact that he had cooperated with Baek Seok-do’s actions meant—
‘Was he unlocked?’
Which meant he could kill without hesitation.
“Chairman?”
At the title he had never heard in his life before, the corner of his mouth twisted. Pretending to cough as he covered his face, Ga-on made an excuse.
“No, my head suddenly felt a little dizzy.”
“That’s understandable. The major surgery only just ended. Judging by how quickly you’ve already changed your speech pattern, it doesn’t seem like adapting will be difficult. How does it feel? Your newly acquired body?”
There was nothing to say. Nothing had changed from yesterday. Alfredo simply didn’t know that. There was no need to worry about him noticing.
Brain transplantation was an incomplete technology. And incomplete technologies inevitably came with unexpected side effects at any time. Across all ages and cultures, there was one excuse that people could not help but believe.
“My mind feels hazy. I can only recall a few recent events…”
The path Ga-on intended to take was clear.
He could pretend to be Baek Seok-do to avoid unnecessary suspicion, but that was a foolish move. Without any background knowledge, the lie would inevitably be exposed quickly. Even if he got caught later, he would have no excuse.
But right now, he could insist that his memories had been lost.
As expected, Alfredo merely showed concern. It did not seem to have crossed his mind at all that the person called Baek Seok-do had disappeared entirely.
Well, even if the brain changed, who would ever expect a human being to preserve their sense of self?
“That can’t be… The surgery was successful, though.”
“I think the fact that I was exposed to radiation acted as a variable. My constitution is different from normal cases.”
“That’s serious. Then doesn’t that mean we can’t transfer the Chairman’s authority to this body right now? Only the Chairman knows the master code required for final approval.”
“That’s…”
***
‘…What a shame.’
It had been the perfect chance to claim Baek Seok-do’s legacy.
He searched the room in case there was anything that could serve as a clue, but not even a single sheet of paper turned up. There was not even a simple doodle. It was security awareness and information control carried to a pathological extreme.
It couldn’t be helped.
The past was the past, and all he could do now was focus on rehabilitation. Once he became Nesol, news of Baek Seok-do’s death would spread anyway. This would probably be the last time he slept in a room as massive as a palace.
Glancing absentmindedly upward, he saw two satellites floating in the sky.
Phobos and Deimos.
Mars, which signified the planet itself, was the name of a god in ancient Rome, known as Ares in Greek mythology.
Phobos and Deimos were names derived from his two sons.
They represented terror and fear respectively.
Perhaps they could be called the twin engines of victory in war. Unlike their origins, however, they were not bright enough to inspire awe. Compared to Earth’s moon, they were like fireflies.
But today, unusually enough—
“They’re bright.”
At the visitor who appeared without the slightest warning, Ga-on grabbed Qiongqi from beside his pillow. It was astonishing enough that someone had breached the mansion’s security, but he had failed to notice them even entering the room.
It was an approach that could only be explained as having sinister intentions.
However, the other party waved a hand in a remarkably friendly tone.
“Ah, there’s no need to get up.”
The man seated across from him laughed cheerfully, as though something was endlessly amusing. Of course, that was merely Ga-on’s vague assumption. The man had no discernible facial features whatsoever. A smooth oval shape—perhaps it would be more accurate to call it an egg.
There was not a single clue that could identify him as an individual.
The same went for his hair. Though hidden beneath a fedora, there was nothing underneath it either. It was probably the result of surgically altering his entire face.
“You are…?”
“You’ve already forgotten? Didn’t we introduce ourselves last time? Well, it can’t be helped. A generous person like me will simply have to bear with it.”
The man straightened the lapel of his suit and continued.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Baek Seok-do. You may call me Mumyung.”
A careless name. Combined with the face, it was a setup that blatantly conveyed his intent not to reveal his identity.
“I heard you made quite a commotion during the selection process. That’s rather unlike someone who claimed he would look for another candidate because the eldest son carried too many burdens.”
An old man’s suspicious connections. Unsurprisingly, Ga-on felt nothing but a bad premonition.
In any case—
“I don’t remember.”
“So now that you’ve achieved your objective, you intend to deny everything? I warned you beforehand, didn’t I? In exchange for transferring the technology, you were to clean things up quietly without causing any disturbances. We even have records from back then, and you’re saying you don’t remember?”
From a normal perspective, Baek Seok-do was entirely in the wrong here. But what was Ga-on supposed to do about it? To him, this was all something a third party had done on their own.
Besides, this was his first time meeting Mumyung. He had no obligation to dance according to the man’s circumstances.
“I have amnesia. Seems like there was an issue with the technology your side provided.”
He forwarded Alfredo’s compiled report from earlier in the afternoon directly to Mumyung. For a moment, Mumyung froze before adjusting the fedora that had begun to slip. Silence soon settled over the room.
“I wasn’t aware of that.”
“This puts me in a difficult position. I may never recover my memories for the rest of my life. If that happens, there’d be no point in obtaining youth in the first place.”
—What Ga-on wanted while pretending to be the victim was only one thing.
“Let’s pretend this deal never happened.”
Cutting ties as quickly as possible. The best way to handle uncontrollable variables was to eliminate them.
“That won’t do. Primarily not for me, but for Mr. Baek Seok-do.”
“Why?”
“Because termination would mean death. It would be a waste to throw away the life you’ve only just obtained.”
The tone that had been smiling moments ago suddenly dropped. Perhaps because Mumyung had no expressions to begin with, the atmosphere became strangely unsettling.
Only then did Ga-on realize why Mumyung had come.
He was a scout sent to verify whether the other party had betrayed them after obtaining a new life.
During his seclusion, it seemed Baek Seok-do had allied himself with some sort of organization. For companions made in old age, they were an awfully rough crowd.
“What exactly did I promise your group?”
“Baekdu’s technology.”
That was enough to make him want to smack his forehead.
“But I don’t even have access authority. As you can see, I lost my memories, so I’m in a position where I have to relearn everything from scratch.”
“Our side bears some responsibility as well, so we’ll simply have to take that into consideration.”
Mumyung scratched his smoothly shaven face. Looking at that utterly unnatural visage, one Ga-on still could not get used to, he voiced his doubt.
“Isn’t this far too expensive a price just for a technology transfer? No matter how scarce brain transplant theory may be, it shouldn’t be impossible to obtain. Don’t tell me you’re trying to deceive me because I supposedly have no memories?”
“If it were a one-time occurrence, perhaps. But what if it’s an eternal repetition?”
“An eternal repetition?”
“Yes. What we promised Mr. Baek Seok-do was a complete and infinite brain transplant. In other words, immortality.”
A chill ran through him. Right, no matter how much wealth and power one possessed, what ultimately remained at the end was the primal instinct to survive.
He felt like he could roughly grasp just how enormous the organization Mumyung belonged to was.
“Are you people pursuing eternal life?”
“Eternal life, hm. Even after losing your memories, your way of thinking remains the same. Well, I suppose it could be misunderstood that way, but that is merely a secondary element. Yes… if I had to compare it to something, perhaps it’s more like a checkpoint. It wasn’t our direct objective, but in the end, you could say it became one.”
“What exactly is your goal?”
There was no way Baek Seok-do was the only person in the world who desired immortality, nor was there any chance Baekdu was the only corporation they were targeting.
“Our goal is… Ah! It’s already this late.”
Feigning surprise, Mumyung smacked his own shiny forehead and rose from his seat.
“Let us continue this conversation after Mr. Baek Seok-do recovers his memories. We still have plenty of ‘time’ remaining, after all.”
And just like that, he vanished abruptly, as though fleeing from someone’s pursuit. Leaving behind fine drifting particles.
“Ha.”
It was obvious that the whole display had been intentional. The message was clear: bring them Baekdu’s technology, and they would continue dealing with him.
Left alone, Ga-on set Qiongqi down and sank into thought.
A mysterious organization that had appeared out of nowhere. For simplicity’s sake, he decided to refer to them as the “Inner Circle.”
They seemed deeply versed in life-extension technology. At the very least, they must have accumulated theories and experience decades, perhaps centuries, ahead of everyone else.
To Ga-on, who was merely a latecomer—
“What a delicious prey.”
They were a necessary piece in the narrative leading toward true immortality.
He now had one more reason to dig into Baek Seok-do’s past.
***
Last night, news of Baek Seok-do’s death spread far and wide. Everyone already knew that his death had only been a matter of time, and as though they had been waiting for it, distinguished figures from all sectors entered and exited the funeral hall to commemorate the fall of a giant of the business world.
The threshold nearly wore down from the flood of mourners, yet the funeral itself was conducted swiftly and simply.
Because where the giant had vanished, a new star now shone.
Naturally, Baek Seol was designated as the next Chairwoman of Baekdu. The sole surviving member and victor of the Baek family. As soon as the succession procedures were completed, she held her inauguration ceremony and declared her ambitions from the podium.
“……I hereby declare it. Baekdu will be reborn from this very moment. I will change the rigid hierarchical workplace culture and completely reform the welfare system so that your sweat and hard work are never ignored. In order to create the most human-like androids, we first need the most humane workplace.”
Some time later, after Baek Seol stepped down from the stage upon finishing her inaugural address, Ga-on approached her and pulled out something he had hidden behind his back.
“Congratulations.”
Receiving the bouquet, Baek Seol wore a dazed expression, as though it was entirely unexpected.
“Th-thank you.”
And it truly was unexpected. She had never once received such kindness from either her father, Baek Seok-do, or her older brother, Baek Ryang.
Perhaps it felt especially meaningful because it came from family—more specifically, from her younger brother. Sensing that she was deeply moved, Alfredo gently interjected.
“I suppose I should call you Young Master Baek Ga-on now rather than Mr. Baek Ga-on.”
Not Chairman—
It sounded as though he had heard something he absolutely should not have heard, so Ga-on deliberately ignored it.
Of course, he was the only one hearing nonsense, so Baek Seol instead focused on the word “young master.”
“Come to think of it, you should’ve introduced yourself during my inauguration ceremony too.”